Western Heights superintendent Monty Guthrie resigns, former teacher Brayden Savage appointed

Still in the midst of a turnaround, Western Heights Public Schools faces a leadership turnover with its top administrator announcing Friday his departure from the troubled school system.

Interim Superintendent Monty Guthrie notified staff and parents his last day at Western Heights is Jan. 31. He said he has accepted a position at another school district that will bring him closer to home in eastern Oklahoma.

Guthrie commutes 2 1/2 hours from his residence in Stigler to the southwest Oklahoma City district.

"The people at Western Heights are just outstanding," Guthrie said when reached by phone Friday. "I couldn't have asked for anything better. It's just that I live 2 1/2 hours away."

State schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister chose former Western Heights teacher and administrator Brayden Savage to replace Guthrie as interim superintendent.

Savage spent 16 years at Western Heights during the tenure of then-Superintendent Joe Kitchens, advancing to the roles of director of human resources and assistant superintendent. She is now the principal of the Shawnee Early Childhood Center.

Savage, whose three children attended Western Heights schools, is a certified superintendent working toward a doctorate of education.

"Being back at the district where I have spent most of my career is exciting," Savage said in a statement. "I genuinely love this community – the teachers and staff, the students and their families. I believe that at the core of what we do is the partnership we have with parents and the local community. It is the only way to assure the best outcome for students."

Guthrie is the deputy superintendent of finance and federal programs for the Oklahoma State Department of Education. He stepped into the full-time superintendent role at Western Heights in July once Hofmeister appointed him to lead the district for the 2021-22 school year.

She made the appointment after the Oklahoma State Board of Education suspended the district's original superintendent, Mannix Barnes, and took control of operations in the school system this summer.

Western Heights had struggled with abysmal academic performance, high absenteeism rates, heavy staff losses and poor financial management since Barnes was hired in 2019, state officials said.

More on Western Heights: 'Please help us': Oklahoma City schools face urgent complaints, one district on probation

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector's Office are probing the district.

District parent Amy Boone said Guthrie was a "breath of fresh air" after the discord under Barnes.

"I'm eternally grateful for his enthusiasm for Western Heights and for the positive influence that he was in our district and for the things that he was able to accomplish," Boone said.

Guthrie instantly encountered roadblocks from the Western Heights school board. Soon after his appointment, the board voted to approve an interim superintendent of its own choosing.

The school board and its attorney, Jerry Colclazier, challenged Guthrie's appointment in court, arguing the state has no authority to remove a superintendent and choose its own candidate.

An Oklahoma County district judge ordered Western Heights to accept Guthrie and denied the district's legal challenge. The Oklahoma Supreme Court declined to hear Colclazier's first appeal.

Western Heights board President Robert Everman even attempted to subvert Guthrie in a bizarre September public meeting by taping his own version of the meeting agenda to the front door.

Everman and the board then blocked Guthrie's superintendent contract, his choices for 44 new hires and a resolution to a two-year impasse in negotiations with the district's teacher union.

The board in October approved the union contract, which Guthrie negotiated.

Guthrie said he decided to leave Western Heights solely to work closer to his family, not because of any issues within the district.

Boone said she was surprised and shocked to learn of his departure. She described the community response to Savage's appointment as mostly positive.

Longtime Western Heights educator Laurie McCracken said Savage's return will be a "joyous reunion."

"We will have people coming back to teach here because they will want to work for her," McCracken said in a statement via the state Department of Education.

The district has struggled after promoting from within, specifically following Barnes' hiring as superintendent after serving on the Western Heights school board. Given this track record, Boone said she is skeptical of any candidate with a history at Western Heights.

"I'm going to give (Savage) a chance, of course," Boone said. "My opinion has always been that Western Heights needed someone from the outside that has experience improving troubled districts."

Reporter Nuria Martinez-Keel covers K-12 and higher education throughout the state of Oklahoma. Have a story idea for Nuria? She can be reached at nmartinez-keel@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @NuriaMKeel. Support Nuria’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Western Heights schools superintendent to depart, another appointed